Lisa Pavelka Signature Series Craft Foils

Thanks for visiting Craft Critique! If you've come here from a search engine or from a direct link, you might be missing out on more content! Please visit CraftCritique.com. And for more amazing content such as projects, artist interviews and more, sign up for our Monthly Newsletter.

How about a nice warm welcome to Jenny, of Craft Test Dummies!

Reported by Jenny Barnett Rohrs



I love shimmer, shine, and glitz, so I was excited to get my hands on the newest mylar foils sold by Lisa Pavelka under the "Signature Series" label.

I got the "Expressions" colors, which has one sheet each of copper, gold, silver, pearl, oil slick, and speckle. The other set available is called "Bold and Brights" and has green, magenta, purple, red, blue, and a rainbow sheet.


Opening the package, the sheets seemed awfully small-- only a little over 4 inches by 8.5". Big enough for clay projects, sure, but it may be limiting if you wanted to, say, make something on fabric.

The colors were lovely, and I started out putting some gold on black polymer clay. Following the tip on the package, I placed the mylar foil dull side down on a sheet of conditioned clay. I used a small piece of waxed paper and rubbed the top of the foil to transfer it onto the clay. The combination of pressure and heat transfers the foil from its mylar backing onto the clay. Presto! Just as advertised, it transferred easily, leaving me with a shiny metallic clay sheet.



I ran it through the pasta machine a couple of times, but to my surprise it did not really crackle. It kind of stretched out with the clay, making the color less dense, but I didn't get the cracking pattern I was going for. Still nice, though, and I was pleased with the result after stamping an image on it with white ink.

Next I tried a more random look, stamping on white and purple clays with black ink, and then rubbing on some foils. This also worked well, and the stamping ink didn't interfere with the foils at all.



The instructions suggest that after baking you apply a top coat to keep the foils from rubbing off eventually. I tried both a liquid clay and Magic Glos (a UV-curing resin, also sold by Lisa Pavelka), and the results were stunning. The additional top coat make the foil sparkle and shine like a million bucks!

While the pictures don't do it justice, here's one of the final pieces:



Lastly, just for fun- and because the package says it's for "clay and crafts" I tried foiling some fabric. I used an adhesive made for this purpose, and I used a rubber stamp by Stampin'Up to put a silver hand on fabric.

Side note: you can wash the foiled fabric by hand in cold water-- just don't dry it in the dryer or iron it, or the image will come off.

Pros:

• Easy to apply.
• Nice "sampler" of colors.
• At $5.99, it's a good price point for a beginner.

Cons:

• Sheets are small- not good for large designs on fabric.
• No detailed instructions or sample craft included in the package- beginners might be at a loss as to how to use them.
• Hard to find at retail outlets.

Where to buy:

• lisapavelka.com
• polymerclayexpress.com
• shadesofclay.com (Canadian!)

Overall, Lisa's Craft Foils are serviceable but don't stand out as leaders in the craft foil field. A nice sampler for the beginner and worth the price to get you going! I rate them a 7 out of 10.

Anybody else out there love mylar foils? Have a brand you're in love with? Let us know!